The Miami Herald
July 15, 2004
Dissident seeks movement 'free of foreign influence'
Exile leader Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo said he stayed in Havana
during a visit last summer to seek legal status for an internal
opposition movement.
BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
Former Fidel Castro supporter, later political prisoner, still later
Miami exile and now Havana resident Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo says
he spends most of his days talking with other Cubans who, like him,
believe democracy is inevitable in the communist-ruled nation.
He also travels to the provinces to establish ties with dissidents,
stays in contact with an unidentified Foreign Ministry diplomat who
serves as his liaison to the government and grants interviews to
foreign journalists in Havana.
And when the friends who allow him to stay in their homes become
nervous from the publicity, he moves to another house.
''I stay as long as I can, then I move on to another home,''
Gutiérrez-Menoyo, 69, told The Herald Wednesday during a short
stop in Miami on the way back to Havana from a trip to his native Spain
-- the latest stage in his surprising political evolution.
BEGINS TO PARTICIPATE
The founder of Cambio Cubano, a Miami organization that seeks
democratic change through dialogue, announced during a visit to the
island last summer that he would remain to launch an opposition
movement that he hoped the government would recognize.
Nearly a year after the daring move, Gutiérrez-Menoyo has been
allowed to stay in Cuba, the government has invited him to various
gatherings and allowed him last month to visit Spain, with assurances
that he could return.
But he has had little success in launching his opposition movement, and
has not been embraced by some of the other prominent dissidents in Cuba.
Still, he says he has made some headway. In May, he was invited to
participate in a migration conference in which the Cuban government
invited several hundred Cubans living abroad.
''I was able to . . . publicly make demands on issues like the need to
create an opening in Cuba, and other needs in a nation with many
needs,'' Gutiérrez-Menoyo said, adding that after the gathering
Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque told international
journalists that the government regarded him as someone pursuing change
through peaceful means.
''That all represents advances,'' said the Madrid-born
Gutiérrez-Menoyo, who has Cuban citizenship. He fought alongside
Castro's guerrillas in the late 1950s, then spent more than 20 years in
prison after criticizing the Castro government. He later moved to
Miami, where he lived for 17 years.
Looking relaxed and confident during the Herald interview,
Gutiérrez-Menoyo said he is taking his time forming partnerships
with other dissidents on the island to sidestep government charges that
Washington is behind them.
''I'm being very careful to identify dissidents who are completely
independent from any foreign influence.'' he said. ``I'm getting to
know them and they me and we are finding common ground so we can work
together. Transition in Cuba depends on Cubans, not a foreign force.''
His unexpected announcement at Havana's José Martí
International Airport last August came as a shock to his friends and
family, which remained in Miami, particularly because it came five
months after a crackdown that sent 75 dissidents to jail.
But he was confident that he would not be thrown in prison also.
`TOTALLY INDEPENDENT'
''For a long time, the repression in Cuba was targeted against all
those dissidents who are known or had traveled to other nations,'' he
said. ``My case is different. I have no links to any government or
entity. I represent a totally independent movement, and in Cuba there
would be no justification for arrest.''
While some exiles in Miami have alleged that he's part of a Castro
government effort to establish a ''tame'' opposition, some dissidents
on the island appear to have accepted him.
''I see him like another government opponent,'' dissident leader
Vladimiro Roca said by phone from Havana. ``Some people may see him
with suspicion, but to me he is another Cuban. I wish him luck with his
effort. Whatever can be done to open spaces here is always positive.''
Asked why he has not joined forces with some of the prominent
dissidents on the island, Gutiérrez-Menoyo said: ``I've met with
most of them. There can be disagreement within the various groups and
that is OK. It shows diversity.''
He also applauded the petition drive known as the Varela Project, which
seeks a referendum on democratic reforms. But, he added, ``it served
its function, played a positive role in terms of publicity . . . and
died at birth.''
Gutiérrez-Menoyo said he will remain in Cuba as long as
necessary to continue to push for democratic change, which he said is
possible even with Castro in power.
''It's a question of timing,'' he said. ``They dollarized the economy
and allowed foreign investment when they didn't want it. Eventually,
they will have to accept transition even if they don't want it.''